Site: Livonia, Mich. (Ilitch Ballpark)
Score: Madonna 7, Concordia 3
Records: MU (28-7, 15-1 WHAC), CUAA (6-28-1, 5-18-1 WHAC)
Next MU event: Friday, April 26 – at Aquinas (Grand Rapids, Mich.) – 11 a.m.

LIVONIA, Mich. – After a 22 day delay and a change of venue the Madonna University baseball team wrapped up its series with Concordia with a 7-3 win on Thursday (April 25) at Ilitch Ballpark in a game that started on April 3.

The game had been slated to be the precursor to a doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon but rain and snow in the Livonia area caused the twinbill to be canceled and just the final four innings of game two from April 3 were played. The two sides played an 18-inning game on April 3 that caused game two to be delayed by darkness.

A pair of seniors – third baseman Justin Cook (Dresden, Ontario / Lambton Kent Secondary) and outfielder Steve Pelletier (Farmington Hills, Mich. / Harrison) – led the Crusaders with two hits each with Pelletier driving in a pair of runs in the win.

Sophomore righty Justin Hicks (Fowlerville, Mich. / Fowlerville) threw the first five innings of the game, striking out one and scattering five hits and allowed just two earned runs to earn his first win of the season. Junior righty Travis Schuba (Rapid City, Mich. / Kalkaska) came in for the final two innings and did not allow a base runner.

When the game began on April 3, the Crusaders plated a pair of runs in the top of the first as Cook singled down the left field line with the bases loaded for a 1-0 lead. Junior designated hitter Ryan Lech (Macomb, Mich. / L'Anse Creuse North) then delivered a sacrifice fly to left that scored senior right fielder Brad Lineberry(Canton, Mich. / Plymouth) to increase the MU lead to 2-0.

MU tacked on a third run with a Lineberry sacrifice fly in the second that plated Pelletier for a 3-0 lead before darkness fell earlier in the month.

In the resumption today, CUAA got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a ground out to make it 3-1 before a Madonna miscue gave CUAA another run for a 3-2 game.

The Crusaders scored four times in the top of the fifth as the first three MU hitters reached base. After a strikeout, freshman first baseman John Lauro(Rochester Hills, Mich. / University of Detroit Jesuit) drew a bases loaded walk that drove in the fourth MU run. Pelletier drove in two runs with a single to right center that scored Cook and junior shortstop Victor Barron and give MU a 6-2 lead. Pelletier then got in a run down between first and second and stayed in it long enough to allow Lauro to score from third for a 7-2 lead.

The Cardinals plated a single run in the bottom of the sixth with a bases loaded double play but Schuba shut the door and did not allow another runner to reach and sealed up the 7-3 win.

Jeremy Robinson led CUAA with two hits and Tom Sperry drove in a run for the Cards in the loss. Codey Harrison suffered the loss, giving up three runs in his inning and one third of work.

The Crusaders wrap up the regular season this weekend, starting with a doubleheader against Aquinas on Friday (April 26) at 2 p.m. Those games will be played at AQ's Kimball Stadium in Wyoming, Mich. Information on Kimball can be found here.